We slipped into the Pass unchallenged after blending with the other traffic. We passed the wooden palisades, towers, and the stone walls I'd made myself without anyone trying to confirm who we were. This struck me as an issue that would need to be addressed.

"Slack security," I muttered, mostly to myself, but the others heard me.

"Mond, it's not as though a random traveller could get this close without being picked up by the patrols. Any major force would be caught while they were bloody miles away!" said Jandak as we threaded our way towards the tunnel that led to Velkit's Source.

The noise and bustle of the place were an order of magnitude greater than the last time I'd been here. Huskars and humans argued loudly, worked together to pour out refined ore into ingots, and patrolled the outer walls. The stink of smoke and ash filled the air, and visibility was reduced, as though I were walking through a thin fog. A pair of armoured Huskar stood guard outside the entrance to the tunnel system beneath the Pass we needed to use.

"Halt!" The giant on the right barked at us. "This area is restricted. Please seek out the Smith for permission to enter, sirs."

"I'm the Warlord. Legate," I corrected, flashing the tattoo Aresk had given me all those months ago..

"Nevertheless, possible-Legate. Please seek out the Smith for authorisation." This was frustrating and reassuring at the same time. While I had my doubts about the outer layers of security, at least this vital location was thoroughly protected.

"Which Smith, and where can I find him?" I asked, maintaining a politeness that I didn't feel.

"Smith Klip is in the Second Hearth. He'll be able to assist you," the other giant rumbled.

"And where might that be, please?" I asked.

We were given directions and made our way to the homes the Huskar had carved into the cliffs, expanding on the surface-level tunnels carved by the servants of their Maker thousands of years ago.

The Huskar had clearly decided to set up a permanent residence here. They had widened out one of the access points and expanded the tunnel system to accommodate their massive proportions. We jumped down Huskar-scaled steps and found ourselves in a deep, vast cavern. The walls were lined with Ur-vile-sized portals, and flickering lights shone from within them.

"Klip!" I bellowed. My voice echoed back and forth, and the gentle susurration of people used to living in underground conditions, always mindful of any noise they made, came to a sudden stop before the echoes of my shout died out.

"Mond!" Klip rushed out of a side passage further down and hurried towards us.

"Not mad?" muttered Kos quietly.

"Not any madder than before, anyway," added Mune.

"What are you doing here? Production has spiked, and I've started working on refining steel into better materials! Can't manage adjuntium quite yet, but it's only a matter of time!" babbled Klip.

"You won? What about Sulk?" I demanded.

"Sulk is fine! The fumes take decades to fully develop, anyway. Kayla hates me now, but Velkit judged my work the finest!" He glanced left and right like he thought we were being watched. The other humans, and Huskar, had all paused to eavesdrop on us, but the movement made no sense to me. "Want to see it? What I made?" he whispered.

"Yes, Klip, I'd like to see it," Kril said gently.

"Come on! Come on!" he snapped as he led us back into the room he'd emerged from.

Within was an anvil, but there was no forge to heat the metal. He went over to a corner and rummaged around in a chest until he emerged triumphantly with a cackle that would put Kril to shame.

"Here it is!" he said as he unwrapped a short sword made of blue-gold metal. "My finest work!" He offered the blade to me, and I took it carefully by the hilt. A few experimental swings told me it was beautifully balanced, and it hummed as it sliced through the air. I moved to a wall and carefully cut a line into the stone. It was as sharp as my Shop-bought weapons… but this could be enchanted.

"This is amazing, Klip." I handed it back to him. "A weapon fit for the Fangs! Where is Sulk?" I asked slowly.

"Oh, he's still allowed into the forge. Seeing as I won, I was denied further access. You can't improve on perfection! Would you like me to take you there? I can't go all the way, Velkit won't let me anymore, but I can get you past the guards at least!" he babbled.

"Thanks, Klip. That would be good. Here, take this and drink it." I had pulled one of the Pure Health portions from my storage. I only had three at the moment, being limited to one purchase per week. If anything would help stave off Velkit's curse, it might be one of these potions.

"Thanks!" He drank it down without thought and tossed the vial into a corner of the room. "Shall we?" he asked. I nodded.

Klip, or what was left of him, led us past the guards. Having a borderline crazy person decide who got access to the godforge seemed like an issue, so I put it at the top of my "whose stupid idea was this" list.

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We wound down through the tunnels to where I'd had to clear the collapse. Flickering lights, bright blue and green, filled the passageway, and the sound of a hammer ringing on an anvil had grown gradually louder as we approached. Now it was almost loud enough to feel like I was being pressured by Velkit's aura.

"I- I didn't win. Did I?" asked Klip quietly, but his voice cut through the hammering.

"I'll keep you supplied with those potions, bloke," I offered as I put a hand on his shoulder. "They'll keep away the Fumes." He shook me off and turned away. He walked a few steps then stopped and his head pivoted back over his shoulder, he stared at us with misty, blank eyes.

"I've got more work to do for Velkit! I'll leave you in the care of my apprentice!" he muttered as he hurried away. The rest of us shared an uncomfortable look and moved into the god-forge. Velkit's aura pushed at us briefly, but Aresk slammed down his own for a moment, and the feeling of being hot metal on an anvil faded away.

"Sulk!" I called over the noise. "SULK!" I repeated in a louder bellow. The hammer paused, and the smith looked around. He saw us, lowered the hammer to the side, and walked towards us, waving a piece of glowing metal gripped by a pair of tongs in his right hand.

"Mond! The rest of you! Come to see what I can do?" he said.

"We're here for the fanciest metal you've got. What's happening with Klip, and why the hell is he the one granting permission to come down here?" I demanded.

"He's got the Fumes, and badly, I'm afraid. Velkit is a tricky god to serve," Sulk said sadly. "We're keeping him busy and out of harm's way. No one will hurt him, and he's watched so he can't hurt himself. The guards know who can come in here, but sending people to Klip helps keep him… distracted." Sulk wiped the sweat from his brow with the forearm of the hand holding the glowing lump of metal, and we all shied backwards as it swished in front of him.

"Are there any cures? Some herbs, perhaps?" asked Kril. His usual manic tone was absent.

"None that we know of. Time away from the forge, with some fresh air, sometimes helps, but this is a curse directly from the god. I don't think anything will make a difference." Sulk shook his head. "I'm afraid it was a price that had to be paid." I was fairly confident it wasn't, and that it was just yet another reminder of how little care the gods took when it came to mortal lives.

"We need metals. The best you've got. Can you provide anything better than steel?" I asked as I made a note to have Atas and Khan keep an eye on poor Klip.

"Sure. How much are you after? The Forge lets me transmute metals up a scale, but it takes mana and time."

"As much as possible. Give me your hand," I ordered. "No, the one without the red hot metal in it!" I clarified.

He pulled off the other leather glove with his teeth and offered me his soot-stained paw. I grasped it and sent him a thousand Souls, wincing at losing double that amount.

"Boost your mana. I've got a golem core for you and each of us, but we need metal to serve as a raw material," I said, and I smiled faintly as his mind went from F to D grade. "How much metal?" I repeated.

"Oh, a couple of dozen Huskite ingots. It's like steel but better. It isn't on par with adjuntium, but it is not too far off. I've got a few bars of hasgelt as well somewhere at the back." I was beginning to worry that both of my smiths had gone mad. Sulk was babbling almost as badly as Klip had been.

"Do you need any help here?" I asked gently.

"No! Velkit lets them drop off ingots, but he won't let anyone else get close without challenging me to take control of the Forge! It's my Forge!" he almost snarled the last part. Fucking great. Both my human smiths had gone insane.

"What about Kayla?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he mumbled as he looked up at me.

"Your wife!" barked Kril, making Sulk jump.

"I see her sometimes, when the work slows down," Sulk offered defensively.

"Make more time to see her. No need to work yourself to death," I said solemnly. "Now, the metal you've got available?"

He dragged out a hide-shaped ingot of the blue gold metal Klip had used to make his sword. Jandak and Mune moved over and shifted another two dozen of the metre-square ingots out as well. We divided the pile into seven, and I passed out golem cores to the men present. I kept the one for Fay in my pouch and offered two to Sulk.

"What will you use?" asked Kos as he eyed the core and the metal he'd been assigned.

"I've got the lesser avatar core. You guys go ahead." I was interested to see what they'd come up with.

They each stepped forward, and a grey mist spread out of them to encompass the piles of metal assigned to them. I wondered if this was what it looked like to other people when I used Shape Soulbound Servant.

After a few minutes, Jandak stepped back, and the mist faded away to reveal a smooth automaton made of blue-gold metal. It moved to follow him, and Jandak held up a hand.

"Wait!" he said.

"Yes, master," the machine replied in a female voice.

"That's… not good. Deeper voice!" he replied.

"Is this better?" asked the automata in a distinctly masculine tone.

"It won't piss Haylin off quite as much," Jandak grumbled.

The others completed their own golems. Kril's had three arms for some reason, the third emerging from the right armpit, and three legs spaced equidistantly around the base of its torso. The others were standard humanoid forms.

"Sulk?" I asked. The mist cleared from the metal assigned to the smith, and a creature with a single leg appeared. It had half a dozen arms spreading out from a barrel-like body that stretched and contracted out from where its shoulders should be. One hand reached instinctively for a hammer, then it hopped closer to the Forge and plunged a piece of an ingot into the fire beneath the Source. Sulk moved over to his next pile of metal with a cackle that might make Kril envious.

I moved forward and pulled up the design screen in my status. This metal was great, it showed as incredibly durable and able to maintain an almost monomolecular cutting edge.

I had a load of steel in my storage space, left over from Marbo's transmutation into an armoured werecat-monster. I used it up just like I used all the hasgelt and huskite I'd been assigned. The broken lesser avatar core in my hand dissolved. It flowed into the mist-shrouded pile of metal. I made tweaks and balanced my mana expenditure to match what I wanted the thing to be capable of. The iron rings of Fireball on my fingers flowed off and melded into the shape taking form in front of me.

Spider legs, eight articulated mechanical limbs, spread out from the thing's waist. A pair of long metallic tentacles grew from the back of its shoulders, and very human-like arms sat in the usual place. The head had four differently sized glowing brass eyes, and as I moved away, they turned to lock on to me.

"Master," it rumbled in a parody of Aresk's voice. "What is my purpose?"

"To protect me and obey my orders."

"What is my name?" It clattered forwards across the floor and loomed over my head. As it rose up by stretching out its legs, I felt a faint thrill of fear. The strength this thing gave off made me think it would be challenging to put down, even for my pet titans.

"You are Bob. Don't hurt my friends."

"Noted. Define 'friends '?" the machine replied.

Oh boy. This was going to be a long day.

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